Closed shops, banks and deserted streets were the scenes of Harare on Wednesday as Zimbabweans staged a national protest against the government.

Citizens in Zimbabwe largely stayed within their homes in a national “stay-away” day known as Shutdown Zimbabwe 2016.

Activists hoping to force the government to address the nation’s economic meltdown, called for citizens to stay away from work.

The Zimbabwe shutdown comes as teachers, doctors and nurses strike to protest their unpaid June salaries.

Zimbabwe’s economy collapsed in February 2009 and the currency became virtually worthless. Following collapse, the country adopted a multicurrency system which is dominated by the U.S. dollar.

Empty streets created a sense of unease On Wednesday as people stayed home because they feared that they might find it difficult walking back or get stranded t given that on Monday it turned violent.

Zimbabwe police revealed that about 50 people had been arrested in connection with the protests Wednesday.

There were reports of sporadic violence, with teargas and some looting in Harare on Monday. On Friday, a warehouse was burned down on Zimbabwe’s border with South Africa in protest of recent import restrictions on basic goods. Zimbabwe has once been a breadbasket of southern Africa, but now depends mainly on imports.

China on Wednesday declared that it has the right to set up an air defense zone in the hotly disputed South China Sea, a day after a landmark court ruling against Beijing’s claims in the contested waters.

China’s vice foreign minister, Liu Zhenmin in a press conference in Beijing said China’s sovereignty over the bulk of the South China Sea wouldn’t be affected by a decision by the International Court for Arbitration, which went overwhelmingly in favour of the Philippines.

Liu stated that imposing an air defence identification zone ADIZ in the region, which in effect would require aircraft flying over the waters to first notify China, would depend on the threat level faced by China.

China had earlier set up an ADIZ over the East China Sea in 2013, prompting an outcry from Japan and the United States, but the zone has not been fully enforced.

The UN envoy to Libya has called for an investigation into the murders of 12 men said to be supporters of Libya’s former leader, Col Muammar Gaddafi. The 12 are reported to have been killed soon after their release from prison in the capital Tripoli.

The murdered men were accused of taking part in the assassinations and torturing of anti-government protesters way back in 2011, under the then leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.

The bodies of the 12 men were found in various parts of Tripoli, a day after their release.

According to the families of the victims, a look at the bodies showed that all had been beaten and shot in the chest and head.

Martin Kobler, Special Representative of the UN Support Mission in Libya said on Monday June 13 that he was “utterly shocked” by what he referred to as “vile crime”.

He called for the killings to “be thoroughly and independently investigated”.

The wife of the assassin, Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people and wounded 53 others at a gay nightclub in Orlando, could face charges in connection to the attack.

According to sources quoted by Fox News and Reuters, prosecutors have convened a grand jury to investigate Noor Salman, wife of gunman Omar Mateen.

Noor Salman is reported to have told police she tried to talk her husband out of attacking the Pulse nightclub.

Prosecutors quoted by Fox News said they were seeking to charge Noor Salman as an accessory to 49 counts of murder and 53 counts of attempted murder, as well as with failure to warn authorities about the impending attack.

Fox quoted a source as saying; it was possible that Mateen had called his wife Noor Salman from inside the club while the killings were taking place.